System for real time, remote access to and adjustment of patient hearing aid with patient in normal life environment

ABSTRACT

Real time, remote access to and adjustment of the hearing aid of a patient while the patient is located in a normal life environment that is remote from a hearing professional. A session request initiates a programming session. Adjustable settings from the patient&#39;s hearing aid are wirelessly streamed to the patient&#39;s mobile device and from the mobile device to a streaming cloud server. The settings are stored on the cloud, streamed from the cloud to a hearing professional&#39;s computer or mobile device and displayed. The hearing professional then changes at least one of the adjustable hearing aid settings and the changed settings are streamed to the cloud, stored on the cloud, streamed from the cloud to the patient&#39;s mobile device, wirelessly transmitted to the hearing aid and stored there. A telephonic voice connection between the hearing professional and the patient&#39;s mobile device is used to transmit the patient&#39;s evaluation of changed settings to the hearing professional.

PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/428,337 filed on 31 May 2019; which application is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/158,667 filed on 19 May 2016 (nowU.S. Pat. No. 10,348,891); which application claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/215,032 filed 6 Sep. 2015; whichapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to accessing a hearing aid remotelywithout the use of any hearing aid manufacturer's software or hardware.Remote access allows for direct and third party marketing to individualswearing hearing aids and provides a practical system and method thatenables a hearing professional to access and adjust a patient's hearingaid attributes not only from a location that is geographically remotefrom the patient but also while the patient is located in a normal, reallife environment that includes background noises or other factors whichmake hearing more difficult for a hearing impaired patient.

Modern hearing aids are available in which the audio amplifier circuitsof the hearing aid are controlled by digital data processors and signalprocessors which are also capable of establishing two-way datacommunication connections with Bluetooth-enabled computing devices suchas smartphones, other mobile devices and laptop computers although onlysome have this ability. Such hearing aids are essentially specialpurpose computers that store and run programs for wireless communicationaccording to the Bluetooth protocols and also run programs forprocessing the audio input signals from the hearing aid's microphonebefore outputting the processed audio signal to the hearing aid's outputspeaker. These hearing aids also store hearing aid settings which areadjustable attributes for processing the audio signal according to thealgorithms used by the programs and additionally store data collected bythe hearing aid programs showing characteristics of the history of theuse of the hearing aid by the patient. The particular data that isstored varies substantially among the hearing aids of differentmanufacturers. Nonetheless, as the number and types of hearing aidattributes and collected use history data have increased, hearingprofessionals are able to more precisely tailor a hearing aid'scharacteristics to the particular hearing needs of individual patients.

A hearing professional is able to select the hearing aid attributes foreach particular hearing aid and store them in the hearing aid by“programming” or “adjusting” the hearing aid. It is common in thehearing aid technological field to use the words “programming” and“adjusting” interchangeably to refer to the professional function ofselecting the appropriate attributes and causing them to be stored inthe hearing aid. However, some in the technological field use the word“programming” to refer to the initial selection and storing of theattributes and use the word “adjusting” to refer to subsequent selectionand storing that is performed after the initial “programming”. These twowords are used interchangeably in this description.

Unfortunately, the current state of this technology requires a patientto make an appointment with a hearing professional and come into anoffice that has the necessary equipment, hardware and software fordigitally or manually accessing the hearing aid data and adjusting oneor more of the hearing aid settings. This personal appearancerequirement imposes on the patient the inconvenience, expense and timeconsumption that are usually associated with travel to a remotelocation. This requirement is particularly problematic for patients thatare not ambulatory, live in remote areas where hearing professionals arelocated at great distances to the patient, or live in developingcountries where a hearing professional may not be available.

Additionally, the need to access and adjust the hearing aid settingswhile the patient is located at a professional office also limits theeffectiveness of any adjustments. That limitation exists because anoffice is a relatively quiet and acoustically protected environment withno normal sounds, such as any of the diverse background noises fromcrowds, machines and other audio sources that exist as part of apatient's real life experiences. Instead, a hearing professionalprograms the patient's hearing aid in a quiet office environment usingthe specialized equipment provided by the manufacturer of the patient'shearing aid. Although the hearing aid professional exercises the bestprofessional judgment that is possible in this protected environment,the actual effectiveness of the initial settings stored in the hearingaid by the hearing professional can only be experienced and evaluated bythe patient after leaving the office and resuming the patient's normallife. The patient then must return over several weeks and sometimesmonths for follow-up appointments, which again requires travel to theoffice with a resulting repetition of the same inconvenience, expenseand time consumption associated with office visits. During this returnvisit, the patient reports on the function of the hearing aid and thepatient's experiences with it, and the hearing professional readjuststhe hearing aid settings. Often, older patients have memory issues thatprevent them from being able to accurately describe any issues they arehaving with their hearing aids.

Sometimes a patient has an initial bad experience with the hearing aidand the patient stops wearing it shortly after the first office visit.Sometimes the patient reports problems such as hearing dishes in akitchen in an adjacent room better than the patient can hear a friendwith whom the patient was having a conversation while sitting at thesame table. The hearing professional then again uses professionaljudgement to estimate the appropriate settings changes that should bemade to compensate for any problems described by the patient. Thissequence of office visits for adjustment followed by a return to normallife and evaluation of the effectiveness of the adjustments is oftenrepeated multiple times over a period of several weeks or in some casesseveral months until the patient is finally satisfied with the hearingaid or in some cases gives up and rejects the hearing aid. As a result,progress toward optimizing the settings for the hearing condition of theparticular patient occurs in small increments and can be spread over anextensive time period.

Additionally, if a patient rejects the hearing aid, the patient is atrisk for earlier and more severe cognitive issues. Research from leadinginstitutions, such as Johns Hopkins, shows that patients, who have evena mild hearing loss and do not wear hearing aids, are at significantlyincreased risk for decreased cognitive abilities including earlier andmore severe, short term memory loss, dementia, Alzheimer's, balanceproblems, and a decrease in the ability to understand speech. So whenpatients reject their hearing aids or are not properly fitted forwhatever reasons, they are at risk for the cognitive issues statedabove. Remote access provides more convenient fitting and programmingwhich affords more opportunity for patients to be satisfied with theirhearing aids and wear them, thus minimizing the potential increase inadverse cognitive effects.

There have been proposals in the prior art for adjusting some hearingaid settings by connecting a patient's hearing aid to a hearingprofessional over the internet. However, these proposals have beenimpractical and have not been widely adopted because they require thatexpensive specialized equipment be sent to and returned from eachpatient, they require that the patient have a computer, they require thepatient to install specialized software, they require the patient toconnect equipment, the settings that can be accessed and adjusted arelimited and they lack sufficient convenience to be of practical use to ahearing aid patient. Most importantly, each manufacturer has its ownhearing aid accessing hardware and software so the hearing aid patientis required to use the existing proprietary hearing aid hardware andsoftware of their hearing aid's manufacturer's and that requires thatthe special hardware be shipped to the patient in order to access thehearing aid.

The present invention allows for remote access to a patient's hearingaids. The remote access of the invention: (1) does not require or useany existing manufacturers software, proprietary or non-proprietary, inorder to access the hearing aid, provide marketing to the hearing aid,program the hearing aid, update the firmware of the hearing aid, orconnect to third party partners and their offerings to patients; (2)makes it unnecessary to provide the patient with any special or customhardware device for communicating with a Bluetooth-enabled hearing aid;(3) eliminates the need for office visits along with the inconvenience,expense and time consumption associated with travelling to the office ofthe hearing professional; (4) enables the hearing professional to hear apatient's initial complaint, adjust the adjustable hearing aidattributes or settings while the patient is located in a soundenvironment where the patient is currently experiencing a commonlyencountered hearing problem, receive the patient's description of theeffectiveness of the adjustment and make further adjustments andtherefore more accurately compensate for the hearing problem in areal-life, real-time, single session with the patient; and (5)substantially shortens the lapse of time from initial physical fittingof the hearing aid to the patient until the hearing aid issatisfactorily adjusted to meet the patient's needs because more problemspecific and environment specific adjustments can be accomplished inreal time during each adjustment session with the hearing professional.The patient gets better results faster and therefore is more likely toacquire a more favorable perception of the hearing aid and itsusefulness. That further results in greater use of and improved comfortwith the hearing aid and therefore improves the patient's ability tomaintain better cognitive functioning per the research.

Through the invention, hearing aid access and programming can beachieved remotely, and as such this invention eliminates the biggestbarrier to online sales, which until this invention, was the lack of theability to program the hearing aid by a hearing professional withouthaving to go to the hearing professional's office.

This invention also affords the opportunity to provide hearing aids topatients in markets in developing countries and remote markets in anycountry that does not have hearing professionals that can program themon-site or without traveling great distances. With this invention,hearing aids can be sold through retailers and the programming can beperformed by hearing professionals anywhere in the world.

There are additional problems solved by the invention. Sometimes apatient may wish to obtain the services of a different hearingprofessional for reasons such as the patient has moved, the preferredhearing professional is temporarily unavailable or dissatisfaction withthe patient's current hearing professional. Currently such a change inthe treating hearing professional requires a transfer of records fromthe office of the first hearing professional to the office of another.That process ordinarily takes several days and often requiressubstantial effort by the patient. The invention permits any hearingprofessional, including a newly employed hearing professional, toimmediately access the most recent hearing aid settings of the patientand the patient's settings history and to do so with only the permissionof the patient but without the necessity of participation by the patientin the transfer of the recent hearing aid settings and the settingshistory. The invention allows any hearing professional located anywherein the world to quickly become familiar with the patient's needs so thatthe hearing professional can make advanced preparation for an adjustmentsession with the patient or even review the current and historicalpatient settings at the beginning of an adjustment session.

Furthermore, as stated above, a problem with adjusting the settings of ahearing aid while the patient is in the office of a hearing professionalis that, in the office environment, there is none of the real-lifebackground sounds encountered in normal life environments. But if ahearing aid were adjusted while the patient is in a normal lifeenvironment and the hearing professional is not in the same location,the hearing professional cannot experience and evaluate the backgroundsounds. However, with the invention the hearing professional is able tohear the same background sounds that the patient is currently hearing inreal time during an adjustment session with the patient even though thehearing professional is at a remote location. This allows the hearingprofessional to make a professional evaluation of those backgroundsounds and aids in forming a judgment of the appropriate adjustmentsthat should be made to the hearing aid settings. The patient can thendescribe to the hearing professional the result of the adjustmentimmediately after the adjustment is made so that further adjustments canbe made immediately in response to the patient's description.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a method for real time, remote access to and adjustmentof the hearing aid of a patient while the patient is located in anyreal-life environment that is remote from a hearing professional. Theaccess to and adjustment of the hearing aid is made from a hearingprofessional's computer or mobile device to a patient's mobile device orportable computer. After transmitting a session request and initiating asession, the settings from the patient's hearing aid are wirelesslystreamed from the hearing aid to the patient's mobile device and fromthe patient's mobile device to a cloud's streaming server connected onthe internet. The settings are stored on the cloud in association withan attribute designating the stored settings as the current settings.The hearing aid settings are also immediately streamed over the internetfrom the cloud to a hearing professional's mobile device or computer anddisplayed on the hearing professional's mobile device or computer. Thehearing professional then changes at least one of the adjustable hearingaid settings on the hearing professional's computer. These changedsettings are streamed to the cloud, stored on the cloud and streamedfrom the cloud to the patient's mobile device. The changed settings arethen wirelessly transmitted from the patient's mobile device to thehearing aid and stored in the patient's hearing aid. A telephonic voiceconnection is established between the hearing professional and themobile device which the patient can use to describe the patient'sevaluation of the effect of the changed setting or settings to thehearing professional. The patient and the hearing professional canengage in repeated modifications of the hearing aid settings followed bypatient evaluations of the effect of the modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the architecture of thecomponents that are used in practicing the invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are two parts of a flow chart illustrating the basic stepsof practicing the invention.

In describing the preferred embodiment of the invention which isillustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted tofor the sake of clarity. However, it is not intended that the inventionbe limited to the specific term so selected and it is to be understoodthat each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operatein a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/215,032 filed Sep. 6, 2015 isincorporated in this application by reference.

FIG. 1 illustrates the system architecture with detail about the actorsand system components used in practicing the invention. A patient 10 hasa hearing aid 12 and is in possession of a mobile device 14 or computer.The term mobile device is used as a generic term referring to a smartphone, tablet or other device having the same characteristics. Themobile device 14 or computer is Bluetooth Smart (BLE) enabled forestablishing wireless communication with the hearing aid 12. The mobiledevice 14 is WiFi enabled and may also have cellular 3G/4G service forestablishing access to the internet 18. The computer can be a specialpurpose computer constructed for operating with the invention and havingthe usual computer display, digital processing and analog signalprocessing circuitry, and user interface with the same wirelesscommunication capability described above, but the use of specialequipment is not preferred.

In a similar manner, a hearing professional 20 is also connected to theinternet most commonly through a computer 22 and router 24 which aretypically used in an office. However, the hearing professional mayalternatively use a mobile device for communicating with the internet.

In describing the invention the term “cloud” is used which is arelatively recent term of art. Cloud computing is a type of computingthat relies on sharing computing resources rather than having localservers or personal devices to handle applications. In cloud computingdifferent services—such as servers, storage and applications—aredelivered to an organization's computers and devices through theinternet. An internet-based cloud is a group of remote servers that arenetworked so as to allow sharing of data-processing tasks, centralizeddata storage, and online access to computer services or resources. It isa network of servers connected together by the internet and in someinstances in part by a local area network or wide area network.

Communication over the internet between the hearing professional'smobile device 22 at one location and the patient's hearing aid 12 andmobile device 14 at a second, remote location is not a direct connectionthrough the internet. Instead, communication in both directions betweenthe hearing professional's mobile device 22 at one location and thepatient's hearing aid 12 and mobile device 14 at a remote location isstreamed from its originating source to servers on the cloud 26 on theinternet and streamed from the cloud 26 to its destination. The cloud 26comprises a streaming server and a conventional data base server. Thestreaming server is a data streaming cloud server, such as Firebase,which is programmed to have special qualities that allow for live datastreaming and recording of two way communication between the hearingprofessional and the patient during an adjustment session so the serverstores patient identification and patient current attribute settingsdata. The conventional database server is a relational database serverthat stores a patient's historical settings, account information andscheduling details.

Use of the cloud, including cloud storage, interposed between thepatient and the hearing professional, also allows a patient to post arequest for a hearing aid adjustment session. A notification of therequest can be sent to the hearing professional's computer or mobiledevice. When the professional is available, the professional notifiesthe cloud which notifies the patient. When the patient is available, thehearing professional initiates an adjustment session.

In addition to the internet data connection described above, an audioconnection is established between the patient 10 and the hearingprofessional 20 through the patient's mobile device 14, a cell tower orrepeater 28, the telephone network 30 and a landline, cell tower orrepeater 32 connected to the hearing professional's computer or mobiledevice 22 or landline phone.

In the event that a WiFi connection 16 to the internet 18 isunavailable, an alternative connection to the internet 18 can beestablished by a data connection through a cellular 3G/4G as illustratedby phantom lines in FIG. 1. The connection to the internet is importantin order to access the cloud 26 that is interposed in the communicationlink between the patient and the hearing professional.

In a hearing aid adjustment or programming session, a patient's hearingaid and a hearing professional are communicating with each other in realtime through the interposed cloud's streaming server while the patientis located in a normal life environment that is remote from a hearingprofessional. During the session, the hearing professional acquiresremote access to the patient's hearing aid data and settings, andevaluates the data and settings which are displayed on the hearingprofessional's computer or mobile device. The hearing professional alsocommunicates by voice with the patient, makes any appropriate changes inthe hearing aid's adjustable attributes and then receives immediatefeedback from the patient.

The adjustment session can be arranged by making an appointment in theconventional manner via a phone call to a professional or professional'soffice or by transmitting over the internet from a patient's mobiledevice to the cloud a request for hearing aid adjustment and anidentification of the patient. If the latter method is used, the cloudtransmits over the internet to the hearing professional's computer ormobile device a request for hearing aid adjustment and an identificationof the patient. Use of the interposed cloud server allows the cloudserver to send the session request by transmitting a push notificationrequest to Apple's Push Notification Service or to Google's CloudMessaging service (determined by the patient's mobile device operatingsystem) and thereby trigger the transmission of a session request in apush notification to the hearing professional's mobile device orcomputer. The latter method is particularly convenient in the event thata time lapse is necessary because the hearing professional is notimmediately available for an adjustment session, for example because heor she is engaged with another patient. Instead of multiplecommunications between the patient and the hearing professional toarrange an appointment time, a single request for a hearing aidadjustment session can be sent by the patient. Consequently, the use ofthe interposed cloud eliminates any requirement for simultaneousconnection over the internet of the patient and the hearing professionalexcept during a hearing aid adjustment session.

When the hearing professional is able to respond to the session requestnotification originating from the patient, the hearing professional caninitiate a programming session. Alternatively, the hearing professionalcan initiate a programming session in the absence of a session requestfrom the patient. For example, the hearing professional may believe thata sufficient period of time has elapsed since the last programmingsession that the patient should have a follow-up programming session or,alternatively, the patient has a previously scheduled appointment.

The basic steps in the process of the invention are summarized in FIGS.2 and 3. To initiate a programming session, the hearing professional 20transmits a session request over the internet from the hearingprofessional's mobile device or computer to the streaming cloud 26 thatis accessible on the internet [step 100]. The cloud 26 is programmed sothat, in response, the cloud 26 transmits a session request over theinternet to the patient's mobile device 14. In the same manner as statedabove, use of the interposed cloud allows the cloud server to send thesession request to the patient's mobile device 14 by use of Apple's PushNotification Service or Google's Cloud Messaging service. The lattermethod is particularly convenient in the event that the patient is notimmediately available for the programming session so that a time delayis necessary before the patient can respond to the session request. Whenthe patient is ready to proceed after receiving the session request, thepatient initiates the programming session by starting and running theapplication software in the patient's mobile device [step 102].

The application software sends a read command by wireless Bluetooth fromthe patient's mobile device to the hearing aid [step 104]. The hearingaid responds with a Bluetooth characteristic that is a data packetgiving the value of the requested hearing aid attribute setting.Additional read commands are preferably sent in order to obtain all ofthe adjustable hearing aid attributes and the values of those settingsis, at least temporarily, stored in the patient's mobile device. Thevalues of the adjustable settings from the patient's hearing aid arethen wirelessly streamed from the patient's mobile device to aninternet-connected router and to the cloud 26. The adjustable settingsare stored on the cloud 26 in association with an attribute designatingthe stored settings as the current settings and, of course, inassociation with an attribute that identifies the patient and preferablythe patient's hearing aid. The cloud also streams those adjustablehearing aid settings over the internet to the hearing professional'scomputer or mobile device [step 106].

The adjustable hearing aid settings, and preferably also thenon-adjustable hearing aid settings, of the patient's hearing aid arethen displayed on the hearing professional's computer or mobile deviceso the hearing professional is able to consider and evaluate thosesetting and form professional opinions about their significance [step108]. Preferably no later than this stage of the session process, atelephonic voice connection is established between the hearingprofessional and the patient's mobile device [step 110]. Because mobiledevices include microphones and loudspeakers for respectively sensingand generating sounds, the patient and the hearing professional canengage in a discussion of hearing problems perceived by the patient[step 112].

Based upon that discussion, the hearing professional can then change atleast one, and if desired, multiple adjustable hearing aid settings onthe hearing professional's mobile device or computer [step 114]. Thechanged setting or settings are then streamed to the cloud and stored onthe cloud. Additionally, the changed setting or settings are streamedfrom the cloud to the patient's mobile device and then wirelesslytransmitted from the patient's mobile device to the hearing aid andstored in the patient's hearing aid [step 116].

Importantly, the programming session is conducted with real timestreaming of the hearing aid attributes or settings data in bothdirections during the session between the hearing professional'scomputer or mobile device and hearing aid. This data is streamed betweenthose communication endpoints. That data communication is asynchronousand the cloud is not functioning as a file server. The cloud immediatelyrelays event changes to the destination when updates are made to thecloud's data stores.

As soon as the revised setting or settings are stored in the patient'shearing aid, the patient is immediately able to experience and evaluatethe effect of the revisions on the quality of the patient's ability tohear. The patient can then describe to the hearing professional thepatient's evaluation of the effect of the changed setting or settingsthrough the telephonic voice connection [step 118].

Consequently, the invention allows the patient and the hearingprofessional to engage in troubleshooting by providing real-timefeedback from the patient to the hearing professional while the patientis in real-life listening situations. For example in a noisy room, suchas a restaurant, background noise is often proportionally greater for ahearing impaired patient than for an unimpaired person. Hearing aidadjustments are able to compensate for that problem. So, instead ofmaking an adjustment in a quiet environment, like a hearingprofessional's office, the invention allows adjustment while the patientis in the problem environment so that the patient can then provideimmediate voice feedback to the hearing professional about theeffectiveness of the adjustment [step 120]. That allows the hearingprofessional to make further adjustments [step 114]. The steps of makingan adjustment and receiving the patient's feedback can be repeated untilthe patient is satisfied or the optimum adjustments are made [steps 120and 114]. When that happens, the programming session can be terminated[step 122]

During each programming session the attribute settings that are changedas well as other data that is stored in the hearing aid is stored on thecloud in association with a date attribute which is the date of theprogramming session during which the settings were changed. So a historyof the changes to the hearing aid settings is available to the hearingprofessional for consideration during subsequent programming sessions.This same data may be temporarily stored in the mobile device and on thehearing professional's computer for use during a session. It is notnecessary to store on those devices all of the settings and other datafor each session although that can be done. Not only are the changedsettings stored on the cloud, but preferably all the session data isstored on the cloud to give a complete history of all the hearing aidadjustments/programming. To the extent desired, sufficiently oldersettings data can be deleted as being obsolete because they are too oldand therefore no longer relevant. Older session settings can also berecalled in cases where a patient may report to the hearing professionalthat the previous settings are preferred over more recent sessionadjustments.

An additionally desirable practice in performing the invention enablesthe hearing professional to hear what the patient hears in the patient'scurrent environment. This is accomplished by transmitting through thetelephonic voice connection from a microphone in the patient's mobiledevice environmental sounds of the patient's environment that is remotefrom the hearing professional. This is done in the absence of voicecommunication from the patient or the hearing professional to the other.This enables the hearing professional to make subjective judgments aboutthe nature of those sounds. Additionally, conventionally used objectiveinformation, such as the sound pressure level (SPL), can also beobtained. Because the audio from the patient's environment istransmitted to the hearing professional, its audio level can be used todetect the SPL at the patient's current environment.

Some hearing aids measure and store an attribute representing thecumulative time during which the patient has turned on the hearing aid,presumably because the hearing aid was being used. From that attributeand the number of days since the last or any previous session, theproportion of the time over that time interval can be calculated andcompared by the hearing professional to the typical or average dailytime of hearing aid use. The hearing professional can then determinewhether the patient is using the hearing aid during all, most, some oronly a little each day. Additionally, if programs, for use by thepatient in specific environments, such as an outdoor program orrestaurant program, are programmed in the hearing aid, the hearingprofessional can also access information showing which programs wereused and how much time the hearing aids used each of the variousprograms. To detect a patient's pattern of hearing aid use, the hearingaid is queried for the stored cumulative time that the hearing aid wasturned on in each of the programs in the time interval between at leasttwo dates. From the number of days between the dates the average or meantime per day that the hearing aid was in its on state is computed andthen displayed for evaluation by a hearing professional.

There are numerous hearing aid attribute settings that can be modifiedusing the present invention and they vary considerably among hearingaids from different manufacturers. In one hearing aid there are 32different data characteristics that control everything going on in thatparticular hearing aid. In another more sophisticated hearing aid thereare 55 data characteristics to control everything. Typical types ofhearing aid attributes include frequency response, overall gain,different gains within different selected frequency ranges, volume, andattributes of filter algorithms for noise, wind, music and speech. Theseattributes and subdivisions or species of these attributes are used bythe hearing professional to fit the hearing aid to a patient's hearingabilities, which is typically reflected in an audiogram, which is aplotting of the patients hearing according to decibel level andfrequency.

The use of the cloud also allows the hearing professional to providemore conventional services to the hearing aid owner. The softwareapplications or apps for the patient's mobile device and for the hearingprofessional's mobile device can be downloaded and installed and updatedfrom the Apple Store or from Google's Play Store. The hearingprofessional can send automatic notifications to patients regardingbattery supply status, warranty information, new product availability oran upcoming appointment. Appointments can be scheduled.

This invention also provides information to the hearing professionalregarding whether or not the APP is active, working.

This invention provides information to the hearing professionalregarding the working status of the hearing aid and providestrouble-shooting information and tutorials to the patient.

Firmware update notices can also be sent to patients informing them ofthe update availability. Integration with the hearing aid manufacturerwill allow for downloading of the firmware updates through theinvention. The patient will no longer have to go to a hearingprofessional's office to get firmware updates.

This detailed description in connection with the drawings is intendedprincipally as a description of the presently preferred embodiments ofthe invention, and is not intended to represent the only form in whichthe present invention may be constructed or utilized. The descriptionsets forth the designs, functions, means, and methods of implementingthe invention in connection with the illustrated embodiments. It is tobe understood, however, that the same or equivalent functions andfeatures may be accomplished by different embodiments that are alsointended to be encompassed within the spirit and scope of the inventionand that various modifications may be adopted without departing from theinvention or scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile device including an executableapplication supporting access to and adjustment of a hearing aid of apatient while the patient is remote from a hearing professional, themobile device comprising: a processor and memory storing a mobileapplication, the mobile application: connecting to a cloud-basedplatform and to the patient's hearing aid, the cloud-based platformbeing accessible by the hearing professional's computer or mobiledevice; communicating adjustable settings from the patient's hearing aidto the cloud-based platform, the cloud-based platform providing thehearing professional's computer or mobile device access to theadjustable settings; receiving, from the cloud-based platform, a changedsetting for at least one of the adjustable hearing aid settings, thechanged setting being stored in the cloud-based platform from thehearing professional's computer or mobile device; communicating thechanged setting, as received from the cloud-based platform, to thepatient's hearing aid and storing the changed setting in the patient'shearing aid; enabling communication of the patient's evaluation of thechanged setting from the mobile device to the hearing professional viaan audio link or the hearing professional's computer or mobile device;and transmitting, through a connection from a microphone in thepatient's mobile device or computer, environmental sounds of a normallife environment that is remote from the hearing professional so thehearing professional can listen to the transmitted environmental sounds.2. A method of using a mobile device for supporting access to andadjustment of a hearing aid of a patient while the patient is remotefrom a hearing professional, the method comprising: connecting to acloud-based platform and to the patient's hearing aid, the cloud-basedplatform being accessible by the hearing professional's computer ormobile device; communicating adjustable settings from the patient'shearing aid to the cloud-based platform, the cloud-based platformproviding the hearing professional's computer or mobile device access tothe adjustable settings; receiving, from the cloud-based platform, achanged setting for at least one of the adjustable hearing aid settings,the changed setting being stored in the cloud-based platform from thehearing professional's computer or mobile device; communicating thechanged setting, as received from the cloud-based platform, to thepatient's hearing aid and storing the changed setting in the patient'shearing aid; enabling communication of the patient's evaluation of thechanged setting from the mobile device to the hearing professional viaan audio link or the hearing professional's computer or mobile device;and transmitting, through a connection from a microphone in thepatient's mobile device or computer, environmental sounds of a normallife environment that is remote from the hearing professional so thehearing professional can listen to the transmitted environmental sounds.3. The method of claim 2, further comprising repeating the receiving andthe communicating of the changed setting in response to receivingadditional communication of an adjustable setting.
 4. The method ofclaim 2, wherein each respective changed hearing aid setting is (i)stored on the cloud-based platform in association with a date attributerepresenting a current date at which the respective hearing aid settinghas been changed, and (ii) transmitted to the hearing professional'scomputer or mobile device along with the date attribute so the hearingprofessional can see a history of the patient's hearing aid adjustments.5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the patient's mobile deviceor computer receiving, from the cloud-based platform, a request for asession with the hearing professional, the request for the session beinginitiated by the hearing professional's mobile device or computer. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the receiving of the request for thesession comprises receiving a push notification from an Apple iphoneserver or a Google android server that thereby triggers a transmissionof a session request notification to the patient's mobile device orcomputer.
 7. The method of claim 2, preceding the steps of claim 2,further comprising transmitting, over the internet from the patient'smobile device or computer and to the cloud-based platform, a request forhearing aid adjustment and an identification of the patient.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the request for the hearing aid adjustmentand the identification of the patient is further transmitted over theinternet from the cloud-based platform to the hearing professional'smobile device or computer.
 9. The method of claim 2, further comprisingdetecting a patient's pattern of hearing aid use by: (a) measuring andstoring a cumulative time that the hearing aid is in an on state; (b)querying and retrieving the stored cumulative time on at least twodates; (c) computing an average or mean time per day that the hearingaid was in the on state; and (d) transmitting the computed time per dayfor evaluation by the hearing professional.
 10. The method of claim 2,wherein the enabling of the communication includes enabling electronicvoice communication between patient's mobile device and the hearingprofessional's audio link or mobile device or computer.